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Jarvis Moss will get a long look!

By Jim Wexell
SteelCityInsider.com
Posted Mar 6, 2007

At 6-6½, 250 pounds, Jarvis Moss brings to mind another Florida pass-rusher by the name of Jevon Kearse.

The Steelers, of course, passed on Kearse in 1999 in lieu of wide receiver Troy Edwards, and Edwards was such a disappointment that they’ve since drafted two receivers in the first round.
The last time the Steelers drafted a linebacker in the first round was in 1991, and he too came from Florida and he too had the size dimensions of Moss and Kearse.

Funny thing, though: When the Steelers drafted the 6-4½, 246-pound Huey Richardson in 1991, they were looking for a wide receiver. But after targets Mike Pritchard, Alvin Harper and Herman Moore had been picked, the Steelers took Richardson. He lasted one year.

Richardson was a defensive end who ran a 4.8 40 before the draft and the Steelers thought he could move to linebacker. Kearse, on the other hand, was a safety, strong safety, outside linebacker, middle linebacker and defensive end, who ran, according to differing reports, either a 4.43 or a 4.57 at the combine. But the Steelers believed him to be a defensive end.

Of the two examples, Moss appears to compare better with Richardson. Moss plays defensive end but projects to outside linebacker because he doesn’t play the run well. His 40 times at the combine were 4.69 and 4.75. He also benched 225 pounds only 16 times.

Richardson, by the way, was the 15th pick of the 1991 draft, the only time in team history the Steelers picked from that position. They, of course, are scheduled to pick 15th on April 28. The Steelers talked to Moss at the combine. He said they were one of 15 teams to talk to him, and they talked to him about playing linebacker.

“I told them I’m up for whatever (position),” Moss said. “Whatever my need is called and whatever is going to help the team win, I’m ready for it.”

Had he ever dropped into coverage at Florida?

“My position was called ‘The Fox,’ where I would drop into coverage during our fire zones,” he said. “I did some when I was working out in Orlando. We did some linebacker-specific drills. It’s something I enjoy. My body moves well and I can run well and I’m really athletic, so it’s something I really enjoy. I’m looking forward to it if it’s my calling.”

When Moss wasn’t being asked about his position, he said he was being asked about his character. So he had a ready and honest response when asked why he was suspended the week after blocking two kicks to preserve a one-point win over South Carolina. They were the only blocks of Moss’s college career.

“I tested positive for marijuana on the 15th of October,” he said matter-of-factly. “It was a real humbling experience for me. It came after the game of my life, after the South Carolina game. I feel like it was God’s way of bringing me back down to Earth. It was something that I definitely learned from. My coaches stuck by me and we stuck together as a family. I regained that trust and we went on to do some pretty special things the rest of the year.”

On the typed transcript, the follow-up question is this: How did it happen?

But those at the interview session clearly heard Rick Gosselin follow up his initial question with this: With so much to lose, how could you let this happen?

Indeed. How?

“It was a mistake, just like any other person makes mistake,” Moss said. “I got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like I said, it was a real humbling experience for me and it allowed me to put things back in perspective.”

It might be the exact question the Steelers have on draft day. Already the specter of Huey Richardson looms in the background. And it seems that for every positive Moss provides, there’s a question mark that follows.

For one, there’s his background. Moss endured plenty of adversity growing up in Denton, Texas. “But my story is no sadder than anybody else,” he said. “That’s what makes you who you are, just overcoming lots of adversity growing up. So hopefully teams will see in the fourth quarter, when there’s adversity, I’m going to be there.”

Moss didn’t tell the entire story, but he said enough to underscore his saga.

“My grandparents were split up but I lived with my grandpa and I lived with my grandma and some of my aunts and some of my cousins, so I lived with quite a few people coming up.”

Yet, he helped Ryan High School to three 4A state championship games in four years. The school won titles his junior and senior year, when he was named a Parade All-America, even though he missed most of the season with a mysterious injury.

“I went to sleep and woke up one morning and I couldn’t walk,” he said. “I couldn’t put my own jeans on and it was real scary and real mysterious. It stayed with me my first two years of college and nobody knew what was wrong with me. We had a coaching change. Coach (Urban) Meyer and his staff came in and gave me his resources to find out what was going on. We got it diagnosed and treated it with a medicine. I was out for seven weeks and it knocked everything out of me. I had my examinations yesterday and they said my pelvis area is fine.”

Doctors at Florida believe Moss had a staph infection on his pelvis bone that they suspect was “pushed through” when he received a cortisone shot in high school.

Moss lost close to 30 pounds and some believe he’s just now returning to full health. A serious car accident didn’t help matters. On his way to Florida for classes the summer before his freshman season, while driving his girlfriend’s Toyota 4Runner, Moss said he was driving 80 m.p.h. when “her phone rang and she was sleeping so I reached over to pick it up.” The vehicle swerved and flipped onto the median.

He came out of it without a scratch, but the infection kept him out of full-time action until his redshirt sophomore season.

He had 7.5 sacks in 2005 and the same number last season. He had two sacks in the national championship game, but his performance was overshadowed by that of bookend Derrick Harvey and even Ray McDonald. But at least Moss played. His roommate, Marcus Thomas, perhaps the most talented player on the talented Florida defensive line, was thrown off the team because he couldn’t stop smoking marijuana.

Has Moss? And if so, will he be healthy? And if those two questions can be answered in the positive, is he more like Huey Richardson or Jevon Kearse?

It’s difficult enough to answer questions about “tweeners” without having to answer all the other questions that have piled up through Moss’s young life. The guess here is the Steelers won’t attempt to answer them all.

I don't like to judge people for their mistakes, but I don't get a warm fuzzy about this guy. I think there are some underlying character issues here somewhere. I have never met him in person so maybe I am way off here! We don't often get to pick 15th! Usually we are picking 25 -32 and are coming off a playoff run season. Can't afford to get another "Huey Richardson" kinda pick! Just my opinioin, I hope we steer clear of this guy! I would rather have Spencer by a lot! Moss sounds like a Cincinnati type player.

first of all, miami is the U, not florida.....and character issues are OVERRATED. i would be thrilled with this pick. Just because he had an issue doenst mean hes a thug, guys get into trouble in college, most of them grow up unless they get drafted into cincy where they are around people like them lol

My mistake....I already corrected that.

Originally Posted by K Train

first of all, miami is the U, not florida.....and character issues are OVERRATED.

The fact that his roomate was kicked off the team because he was also smoking.....and couldn't stop! That doesn't worry you at all? Not only has he smoked weed but he hangs with people who smoke regularly. I am not Dudley DoRight, but when you draft someone that "high" to play football you can't afford to lose that person somewhere in the middle of the season to the leagues substance abuse program! How many of the players in the NFL who get caught up in drugs and enter the leagues substance abuse program on a first strike never have another strike? Most who offend do so again and again. Will Moss end up in the NFL's substance abuse program? Who can answer that? I can't and certainly you can't either! What I do know is that there are other players who don't have the character question marks surrounding them. If you hit the lottery tonight, the one that is 370 million and you went to an exotic car dealership tomorrow and wanted to buy a Lamborghini. Let's say that they have 2 of them, 1 of them has been in an accident but its been fixed. The other has never left the showroom floor. Which one would you buy? Damaged goods? Mint condition! Character......its whats under the hood so to speak. One incident with the Steelers and I guarantee he would be done in Pittsburgh! Because he wouldn't be coming to us with a clean slate.....he already has a strike! Dan Rooney is a guy who very much cares about the image that his team projects to the community. IMO if we drafted Moss I would be waiting for the other shoe to drop. Remember he didn't do this in the offseason.....he did this right in the middle of their season! Shows very poor judgement!

I don't think that it makes you a bad person!

and smoking pot doesn't make you a bad person, i know ppl that smoke weed on the reg and ain't bad ppl, hell we have a member here that enjoys smoking it and he ain't a bad person

moss is going to be good, i would love for us to pick him.....i want spencer but moss seems like he's gonna be good.........

It doesn't make you a bad person! It just makes you a person who will have a short NFL career! Ask Ricky Williams! Ask Quincy Carter! Michael Irvin was on his last chance. Lots of NFL careers ended prematurely because of drugs! No, it doesn't make you a bad person but it makes you a liability instead of an asset!

The Steelers won't tolerate it, there's almost no way they'll take a player with a documented history of this behavior. We can debate whether smoking weed is ok or not 9 ways to sunday but the simple fact is the Steelers don't normally take a player who's had any type of troubled past. If it's a 1 and done thing then yes maybe but if he's continually putting himself in situations that tempt him or ones he shouldn't be in that makes your status iffy at best.

Somebody will sign him, that much is certain but I'd highly wonder what his chances are of getting drafted by us.

Anyone else hear Deion Sanders talk about Pacman Jones?

Deion talked about how his own Uncle was a drug dealer and that was where most of the gold chains he used to wear around his neck came from. Anyway he talked about the difficulties that some of the guys coming into the NFL have with separating themselves from some of their old buddies who they ran with that are bad influences. Some of their old friends are caught up in drugs and crime and Deion talked about having to choose who you hang with because it will influence and effect your life too. Anyway, he said he spoke to Pacman about these things trying to give him some mentoring advice but obviously nothing stuck! Like it or not, Moss has a track record that will follow him! Should he get caught for possession or pop positive on a league drug screen everybody WILL bring up the earlier mistake! The NFL is not the only employer who has a drug policy. In the military there were NO second chances! First offense you are discharged! If you are going to choose a career that has strict policies concerning drugs.....you cannot afford to dabble! I think that most of us whether we smoke the stuff or not could say with conviction that if we possessed the talents to earn millions of dollars playing ball........we'd give up the stuff until our careers were over without a second thought and wouldn't risk losing everything for nothing!

first of all, miami is the U, not florida.....and character issues are OVERRATED. i would be thrilled with this pick. Just because he had an issue doenst mean hes a thug, guys get into trouble in college, most of them grow up unless they get drafted into cincy where they are around people like them lol

Yep just look at Santonio. He had off the field issues that could have ruined his rookie season, but he got guidence from Cowher anf Hines and turned it around.

I tested positive for marijuana on the 15th of October,” he said matter-of-factly. “It was a real humbling experience for me. It came after the game of my life, after the South Carolina game. I feel like it was God’s way of bringing me back down to Earth. It was something that I definitely learned from. My coaches stuck by me and we stuck together as a family. I regained that trust and we went on to do some pretty special things the rest of the year.

I would rather have a talented guy who got busted once and learned his lesson then someone who has never dealt with adversity and turns out to be a bust. It sounds like he learned a lesson but who's to know if he did or not. The thing with Moss is its his first time, that doesn't mean it won't be his last either but then again who's to say it won't be his last. Getting busted on a drug test once does not constitute setting a track record. If he had been getting in trouble with the law because of using drugs that would be a different story. He got caught once with no other involvements with criminal activity. The Rooneys I'm sure have their character tests in place and are ready to give it to everyone they think of being a Steeler.

If you don’t stand behind our troops.....Please feel free to stand in front of them!!!

"Give me a 6 pack, half hour of rest and lets go play them again....We can beat them."
--Jack Lambert

"They say that when you're the champs, everybody will try to beat you. Well, I'm glad we're the champs, so bring 'em on, bring 'em all on. If we die, we ain't gonna die running. It's gonna be a fight."
--Joe Greene

Am I missing something?

Originally Posted by kgreen

Yep just look at Santonio. He had off the field issues that could have ruined his rookie season, but he got guidence from Cowher anf Hines and turned it around.

His issues were not drugs that I am aware of. He had some domestic battery charges against a girlfriend who was also the mother of one of his children. Those charges were later dropped and to me it looked like a case of a former girlfriend who was not satisfied with the piece of the pie she received from his new pro-contract. The domestic violence charges were never substantiated (proven to be true). That is a completely different ball of wax! Players who dabble in illegal drug use in professional sports usually have shortened careers! There is a list a mile long of examples of players who couldn't give up their drug habits! Bam Morris is an example of a Steeler who threw it all away for drugs! Those who have used drugs know that it is not that easy to walk away from! All that I am saying is that there is a greater risk of getting burned by drafting somebody like Moss who has a checkered past! Those who believe character is overated......I disagree with you! Character is what defines who you are and how you hold up under pressure! Pressure polishes those with character into precious gems while those without character crumble and blow away! Why do you think all the military services have a bootcamp that you must survive in order to join their ranks? The stress and pressure that is applied to the new recruits is designed to weed out people who "break down" under pressure. I can tell you unequivocally that of all the people that I recruited and sent to Parris Island that the former drug users had a much higher wash-out rate than those who didn't! That is not imaginary....that is fact!